Top 50 phrases to get by China: Dining out

💬 [要] here means both "want" and "would like." You can reuse the same pattern with other things: [我要水] for "I want water," or [我要那个] for "I want that one."

💬 [好吃] literally works like "good to eat," and in Chinese adjectives can be the whole sentence by themselves. So you can just say [这个好吃] for "This is delicious," without adding [是].

💬 [不要] in requests often means "don't" or "no," not just "do not want." You can swap the last word to make useful dining requests like [不要冰] "no ice" or [不要香菜] "no cilantro."

💬 [买单] literally looks like "buy the bill," but it just means "pay the bill" or "check please." It's a fixed restaurant expression, so learn it as one chunk.

💬 [素] means "vegetarian/plain, without meat," and [食] is "food," so [素食] is the general word for vegetarian food. You'll also see it in phrases like [素食者] for "vegetarian person."